This is the philosophy behind the new website NanoWorkout.com, created by Swedish industrial designer Joakim Christoffersson.

Designed with an increasingly inactive population in mind, the site features a series of quirky illustrated tips Christoffersson hopes will help turn everyday routines into bite-size exercise sessions. As the site boasts, it’s “a healthy lifestyle without breaking a sweat.”

(To get a sense of the Nano Workout style, try doing 10 squats as you read this article.)

In fact in his search for veiwers and to boost his own fitness, Christoffersson pledges on his blog to do five push-ups for each “like” on his Facebook page.

While Christoffersson’s regimen may seem too good to be true, experts concede that even the slightest activity can be beneficial to a population that is spending increasing amounts of time sitting in front of a screen.

“Any kind of movement is great, is where I'd start,” says Kelly Murumets, president and CEO of ParticiPACTION, a Canadian not-for-profit organization that promotes active living.

The Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines recommend that adults aged 18 to 64 do 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity per week, and Murumets explains this requirement can be broken down into 10-minute increments. Her take on Christoffersson’s exercises? “As long as they're somewhat strenuous, then they would be incorporated as part of those guidelines.”

So how strenuous are Nano Workout’s moves? Depends what you make of them. Christoffersson, who has no fitness expertise beyond his own physical training experience, says his site isn’t meant as a workout regimen: “It's not a program, it's more of a mental adjustment.”

For Christoffersson, Nano Workout came as a solution to his own predicament: a new work schedule too hectic for regular exercise.

“I came from this sort of nine-to-five job where I had access to a gym to suddenly being totally swamped and finding no time whatsoever to train.

“I thought, I need to solve this in one way or another.”

Putting his designer skills to work in a different way, Christoffersson created the site and has been steadily populating it with his own illustrations, each post depicting tips to turn every day moments into accessible, small workouts or stretches.

His ideas range from minimal exercise (calf raises while brushing your teeth) to slightly more demanding activity (push-ups during a conference call). One post even teaches readers to do back stretches while sitting on the toilet. Here, readers can be grateful for the cartoon depictions: Christoffersson’s original idea involved photos of real people.

But despite the effort he puts in to his illustrations, Christoffersson demands very little exertion from his readers. “I’m trying to lower the threshold of working out to an absolute minimum.” Ostensibly, this is an idea that appeals to many: barely two months since its launch, the site garners up to 15,000 hits a day.

What sets Nano Workout apart from other quick-fix workout solutions is its lack of pretense. Unlike fast-fitness gadgets like shape-up shoes, shake weights and firming lotions that make claims of quasi-effortless toning and tightening, Christoffersson doesn’t promise results. And though “Couch Crunches” may not turn you into the next Schwarzenegger, their ease and accessibility are trendy.

This is the era of the “gamification” of exercise, led by game consoles like Wii Fit and Kinect that bring fitness to the living room. While playing tennis in front of a screen may seem like a backward approach to exercise, Murumets sees it as a positive development.

“Any time you're breaking up sedentary behaviour, yahoo, it's a great thing,” she says. “If you have to stand to use the console, that's better than sitting.”

Personal trainer Sean Blinch echoes her enthusiasm. “Gamification is brilliant,” he says. “It has sort of bridged the gap to the new generation of kids and adults, bringing (exercise) back to them in a convenient way.”

But Blinch warns against the lure of too much convenience: “Everybody wants to take the pill instead of actually doing the push-up.” While he says intensity is the key to achieving results, he likes that Nano Workout offer people “something that’s realistic,” though he says Christoffersson should provide more context to his readers. “He has to back this up with something more relevant.” For Murumets, the ideal would be to ensure each Nano Workout is at least a heart-pumping exercise.

As Christoffersson’s blog gains attention, so does his Facebook page. At press time, this number was at 1,263 “Likes,” translated to 6,315 push-ups.

Undaunted, Christoffersson describes his challenge as a win-win situation: “If (the blog) doesn't get any attention, well I’ll at least have tried it and I don't have to do any push-ups.” And if his site’s popularity continues to grow?